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Formula One driver Vettel says mistake in Montreal easy to spot in hindsight

June 10, 2012

Despite taking the pole for Sunday's race in Montreal, Sebastian Vettel finished in fourth place. He was edged out by Lewis Hamilton after electing to stay with some worn tires. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Sebastian Vettel turned his pole position into fourth-place in Canada but says that he has no regrets about the strategy that Red Bull employed in the Formula One race.

Vettel and Fernando Alonso both stayed out when Lewis Hamilton pitted, only to suffer severe tire degradation, while Hamilton eventually won. Vettel eventually chose to stop after all and salvaged fourth, so in the end he dropped only one position from where he had been running.

“We found ourselves in third place,” the German driver said of the latter stages of the race. “I think initially I could have gone a little bit faster, but then we were more or less at the same pace, so I tried to stabilize and [tried] to make the one-stop work, which looked quite promising, let's say, 15 laps to the end. But as it turned out, it was the wrong strategy, and the same for Fernando, really.

“Obviously, when you are in the race, you don't know what will be the final outcome. At the time, Lewis decided to box when he was in the lead. I think Fernando and myself were a little bit surprised because the tires seemed to hold up fairly well, but then all of a sudden, they started to go off in the end.

“Obviously, we were hoping to get the place back against Lewis, but it was pretty obvious then there was no way to hold him. In the end, we decided to box again. We lost a podium, but I think we made the right decision, because at the time we went for the stop we were three or four seconds behind Fernando, and we finished ahead. I think you saw how much he was struggling; he had no more traction. It was very similar when I decided to pit three or four laps before it.”

Vettel insisted that despite turning pole into fourth, it was a good weekend for himself and the team.

“As I said now, it's easy to know everything, but it's nevertheless a very good weekend for us. Very consistent, and if we keep going in that direction, then hopefully we can make another step forward for Valencia.

“It's a different track. We'll see. We have two weeks now. Maybe we are allowed to open the holes in the floor again. I don't know. Obviously, the whole team back in Milton Keynes is pushing very hard. I think we've been close again, and as I said in the end, it was good points, but surely at some stage, it looked more promising for a podium.

“It's always easy to step out of the car and say here and there we should have done this and that. It's up to us to learn a lesson, and then make a step forward.”